“I can’t argue with that,” I said.
“But I’m uninterested in withholding joy from a gnat like you. In truth, I care nothing if you’re happy or sad. Your woman died. That’s only a pity if it ends up being the pebble that thwarts my joy and my success.”
“You’re a narcissist.”
“Naturally,” he said, “as I have godlike powers. According to your world’s philosophers—one of the older, more perceptive characters by the name of Lord Acton said that ‘Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Acton would say that I am closer to absolute corruption than anyone you have ever met. I am not nor do I claim to possess absolute power. If I did, I would not need your assistance.”
Nerelon turned his head like a robot and stared at me. “Does it surprise you that I say I need your assistance?”
I thought about it, finally shaking my head.
He stared me until his eyes darkened once again.
For all I knew, bolts of power might flash like Zeus’s lightning from his eyes.
I cleared my throat, deciding to give him the explanation he seemingly craved. “You’re Nerelon Brontios. I’m getting the feeling you think of yourself as completely objective. You refuse to fear the truth, deciding to face it head-on. Thus, you will say what you conceive as the truth, even if you find it painful. I’m inclined to think that you see this as a power or strength.”
“Facing the truth is a strength and a large source of my power.”
I nodded. “I can accept that.”
“I neither care nor approve that you do,” he said.
I cocked my head. “How should I address you?”
“Magistrate will do.”
“Magistrate,” I said. “Can you bring Debby back to life?”
“No,” he said promptly.
I nodded. “Can you spare the Earth?”
“Of course,” he said.
“But you’ll annihilate it if you fail to acquire the items dictated earlier?”
“Yes.”
“And you always tell the truth?” I asked.
The darkness in his eyes had dissipated. He had the bluest of blue eyes, otherwise. They were coldly murderous and likely, the most intelligent I’d ever seen.
“Do you play…what is the game?” he asked. “Ah. Do you play poker?”
“On occasion,” I said.
“Do poker players lie?”
“All the time,” I said.
“There is your answer.”
“This is a game to you?”
“Indeed. The greatest game in the universe.”
I wondered about it. If I gave him the items he wanted, would he leave Earth intact? I had a feeling that he might. Yet, he’d slain Debby. He hadn’t done so with his hands, but through his creatures, the Gigantopithecuses. Would I try to thwart him because I wanted vengeance for Debby?
“Who gave Ailuros her cat’s head long ago?” I asked.
“I did.”
“And now you granted Ailuros her beauty again?”
Nerelon shrugged.
“Were you married to her once?” I asked.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m trying to decide what I should do.”
“No. She was never my wife.”
“Did you want to marry her?”
Nerelon moved his upraised foot, setting it on the floor as he exhaled. “I’m growing weary of your tasteless questions. You’re a gnat, Logan. This is your moment in the sun. I’m afraid it is going to burn and shrivel you, taking your planet with you.”
I noticed one of the screens then. It showed a fiery meteor falling from space. The meteor left a blazing trail through the sky. It reminded me of the fireball on the doom world.
I pointed at the screen. “What is that?”
Nerelon turned his head to look, doing so slowly. “It’s the first strike.”
“Where’s it headed?”
“San Francisco.”
“You’re—”
On the screen, the meteor struck San Francisco. I saw that, and I saw a mighty dust cloud billowing outward. Buildings crumpled at the kinetic shock wave of the strike. The Golden Gate Bridge blew away. Oakland, San Jose and other cities of the Bay would—
I choked back tears of rage and disbelief. I felt hot and cold and began shivering. Millions had just died.
“Why?” I shouted.
“Your planet does not yet know of the existence of my dreadnought,” Nerelon explained. “They will in another twenty-four hours. Then, I will remove the cloaking device and let your nations know that they will all begin to die just as San Francisco died. At that point, I will use hell-burners instead of kinetic strikes. Your pathetic CAU operatives… Do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to post pictures of Jenna and the others. I’ll set the world’s nations against them. Every villager, every citizen and illegal will hound the planet for them, tearing them to pieces. One by one, Logan, all the cities of the world will cease to exist. I will get the Prometheus Stone, the Celestial Cybernetic Circuit and the Ultimate Annihilator. I will have Argon in my hands, or I will watch your planet die city by city. Are you prepared for that?”
Shaking with fear and rage, I stared at him. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Oh,” Nerelon added, almost as an afterthought. “I will tell the remaining nations—when I’m halfway through—that you could have saved all of them by telling me what I wanted to know. Then, I’ll hand you over to the Intelligence agencies. I doubt they’ll kill you right away. I imagine they’ll eagerly torture you in order to extract the information I wanted to know. Eventually, I’m going to get what I want. I always do.”
“Including Ailuros?” I panted.
Nerelon nodded as if in approval. “Fight back with the weapons at hand. That is often a good policy. In this case, it’s going to cause you further grief.”
“Hit a nerve, did I?”
He pointed at me, and a force rayed out of his index finger. The force struck, toppling me over the couch so I slammed against a far wall. He raised his hand and finger, and the force shoved me up against where the wall met the ceiling. Finally, he ceased raying.
I plunged down, striking the floor, crumpling and groaning in dismay. I was also soaked with fear-sweat, certain I was about to die.
“When talking with me,” Nerelon said, “it would be wiser to choose your words carefully. I will leave you to ponder your choices. Watch the screens, if you desire, and witness which city I destroy next.”
He rose and headed for the door. As he did, the nimbus reappeared around him. He did not look back.
I was glad. At that moment, all I knew was a growing and deepening despair.
-47-
I debated long and hard with myself. Who was I that my stubbornness should bring about the destruction of the world? Yet, what could I do differently? I’d made my decision while racing back to Earth through the ethereal realm. I had glimmers of remembrance of that time. Should I trust that super genius, the CCC combined with my level-two intellect? What could I tell Nerelon Brontios anyway?
I remained in captivity in that dreadful room, occasionally looking up at the screens. It occurred to me on the second day, as I watched another meteor fall, hitting Beijing, China, wiping it out and everyone in it, that maybe this was a sting, a setup. Did the screens show reality or only a possibility as the Ghost of Christmas Future had shown Ebenezer Scrooge? Did Nerelon Brontios once again play a game with me?
I paced endlessly. I did pushups. I ate the crappy chips, the M&Ms and pretzels and drank from plastic water bottles. If I put my ear to the door, I could hear the Great Machine at work. Would Nerelon Brontios destroy Earth so easily? Who would run the Great Machine after he left then? He’d destroyed Sand, right?
Toward the end of the second day, I lay on the couch, sleeping fitfully. The doorknob rattled. I sat up, watching. The big thing moved slowly as if a mouse was trying to move it. Finally,
Ailuros stuck her head within.
“Logan?” she called.
I sat up, looking at her. Her voice seemed different.
“Logan?” she called again.
“Right here,” I said.
She turned her head, and I understood why should couldn’t see me. Her eyes were two hideous ruins and stuffed with a waxy substance.
My heart twisted in my chest, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. “Ailuros?” I asked in dismay.
She shook her head, as her features seemed as if they were about to crumple into tears. Could tears leak from such ruins?
“Don’t pity me,” she said. “I hate pity.”
“What… What’s going on?”
She sneered as she stepped into the chamber, closing the door behind her. There was something different about the way she walked. “Nerelon Brontios is making his moves,” she said. “He blamed me for…for…” She bent her head as her shoulders slumped.
I approached slowly. I could hardly believe this. It was too much. San Francisco and Beijing struck by killing meteors, and now, Ailuros blinded. I know millions of lost lives could not compare to hideous blinding, but it was far easier for me to emotionally connect to her blinding than comprehending millions of deaths. The butcher, Joseph Stalin, had once said, “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.”
Ailuros peered up blindly. “I can feel you staring at me. Stop it.”
“Of course,” I said. “Did…did Nerelon tell you he would restore your sight if I told you what I could?”
She said nothing.
“I don’t get his thinking, though,” I said. “We’re enemies, you and I. Why would he think that blinding you would—?”
She raised her head sharply. “I want to tell you: ‘Don’t tell him what he wants to know.’ But, Logan…you don’t know what it’s like being blind.”
I licked my lips. What kind of monster was Nerelon Brontios? He’d wanted Ailuros once. I had…I had… My heart hardened. This was too much. This was—I stepped closer yet, examining her ruined eyes. The orbs were gone. It looked like a brutal job. This was too much, and I didn’t buy it. Nerelon had the Synthesizer. Would he truly…?
Then it struck me, certain little things that had seemed false. “You’re not Ailuros,” I said suddenly.
The woman stiffened.
“He put someone else into the Synthesizer, didn’t he?” I asked.
The woman took several seconds too long to answer. “No,” she said.
“Bull,” I said. I rushed up and moved her aside.
“No, please,” she said.
I opened the door and stared into the muzzle of a gun. The real Ailuros held it. She had a strange look in her eyes, whole eyes that worked.
“You were actually thinking of telling her—me—what you know,” Ailuros said as if stunned.
“Who is she?” I demanded.
Ailuros shook her head, even as she kept staring at me.
“Do I know her?” I shouted.
“No,” Ailuros said. “She’s an Englishwoman who agreed to this in order to save London from bombardment.”
“Nerelon is really striking cities?” I shouted.
Ailuros appeared shocked. “Of course he is. Why would you think otherwise?”
“If he destroys humanity, who will service the Great Machine once he leaves?”
Ailuros frowned even more. “Don’t you know why he wants the Ultimate Annihilator?”
“How can I possibly know?” I shouted. I was dealing with monsters, and I’d reached the snapping point.
“He wants to save the lost Polarions,” Ailuros said. “He heard about what happened to Lord Beran. More importantly, he realizes that many Polarions yet exist in the Shadow Realm. He wants to free and rehabilitate them.”
“What?” I said.
“But Nerelon needs a weapon to face the Master and others of the Shadow Dimension,” Ailuros said.
“How does he even know the Ultimate Annihilator will work in the Shadow Dimension?”
“Nerelon Brontios makes careful calculations,” Ailuros said. “He’s certain the weapon will perform there as advertised.”
“So…so he’s willing to kill everyone on Earth to get it?”
“After what you’ve seen, can you doubt it?”
“Okay. So, why is Argon fighting him if Nerelon wants to save the lost Polarions?”
“Because my husband thinks the idea is madness. He’s certain that Nerelon will unleash the Shadow denizens upon our galaxy. That will mean galactic-scale ruin.”
“What do you think?”
Ailuros searched my face. “I wanted my beauty back. I’ve wanted that ever since I lost it.”
“Yet, Nerelon took your beauty.”
“He told you?”
“Ailuros,” I said, stepping near, taking hold of one of her wrists—not the one whose hand held the gun aimed at my belly. “You’re not insane. Nerelon is insane.”
She shook her head. “I assure you he’s not.”
“He’s killing millions of innocent Earthlings.”
“They’re nothing to him.”
“He’s blinding innocent girls.”
“He’ll restore her sight once you agree to terms.”
“I don’t know enough to help you,” I said.
“You’re wrong,” Ailuros said. “The little you can tell him will be enough. Logan—” She bit her lower lip. “Jenna and the rest of the CAU are thwarting Nerelon. He believes the only reason they are capable of this is because of your planning.”
“But—”
Ailuros tore her wrist free of my grasp. She backed up as her face twisted with seeming hatred. “I’ve had enough of you, Logan. This is it. Tell me what Nerelon wants to know, or I’ll kill you here and now.”
I felt a presence—Ailuros must have felt it first—and looked over her shoulder. Nerelon stepped around the corner. He—I did a double take.
Ailuros turned to see what was bothering me. She stared at Nerelon, and gasped. “No,” she said. “This isn’t—”
Nerelon raised a silver gun and beamed Ailuros. The great beauty moaned, hit in the stomach. She tried to turn her gun on me. She tried to fire. Instead, she fell into my arms, slumping unconscious.
What was going on here?
Nerelon tore off his black wig and the fake beard. It was Argon hurrying to us.
“I’ll take my wife, if you don’t mind.”
I moved back as Argon hefted Ailuros in his arms. Boy was I glad I hadn’t slept with her.
“What’s the idea?” I asked, bewildered.
“Get the Englishwoman,” Argon said. “We’re leaving now.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“Listen to him, Logan,” said a woman coming around the corner. She wore combat fatigues and boots, had blue eyes, long dark hair and a statuesque figure. She was no Ailuros, but Jenna Jones of the CAU was beautiful just the same. I noticed that she leaned to one side as she walked, the side with a carrying strap around that shoulder and in the case—
“You must have the Odin Lens,” I said.
“Don’t talk about that,” Argon said. “Get the Englishwoman. We don’t have much time. Nerelon went back to the Ocelot for something. If we can complete our task, maybe we can save your mud-ball planet and the rest of the universe to boot.”
“Rax told us everything,” Jenna added.
“Yes, Logan,” a familiar voice said from Jenna’s belt. “I told them what you told me to say.”
“Rax!” I said. “You made it.”
“The fact that I am conversing with you should make that obvious,” the Rax Prime crystal said.
“Right,” I said. I went back into the screen room and staggered back out. I think my face must have been pale.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked.
I stared at her. The Englishwoman, the Ailuros lookalike was dead. From her frozen state and the blood on her lips, she must have taken a death capsule. I
must have mumbled that.
“We have no more time,” Argon said, taking command. “Logan, are you ready?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
-48-
It would have been cool if leaving had been as easy as wishing it. In the old days, I’d had a Galactic Guard shuttle with teleportation capability. Once I’d achieved a goal, I’d simply teleported away. Unfortunately, I’d lost the shuttle in Antarctica, which seemed like years ago now. Had it only been a few months ago that I’d watched the Master toss Lord Beran into the Shadow Dimension? Did Lord Beran still live? Given Nerelon Brontios’s idea, it seemed possible.
We raced down corridors. Argon led the way while carrying an unconscious Ailuros. Jenna ran ahead of me, lugging the heavy Odin Lens, and I brought up the rear with Rax once again belted to my side. I had a Polarion-made blaster in my right hand, having taken it from a case Jenna had handed me. Jenna had a blaster in her gun-hand.
“Your plan has worked brilliantly to date,” Rax said. “I am most impressed.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “What about San Francisco and Beijing?”
“Acceptable losses if we save the rest of the planet.”
“Did I foresee that?” I asked bitterly.
“Not the exact cities, I’m afraid.”
“What?” I shouted.
“Quiet,” Argon hissed from ahead. “We’re not clear yet.”
We’d been running through corridors, having to stop and hide twice to let marching, heavily armed Gigantopithecuses pass. It seemed the final nine-foot robots were making an attempt at reasserting control of the Great Machine. Its thrum had grown, which indicated we were heading toward it. The giant apes were gathering to try to destroy the robots.
“I predicted Nerelon would nuke several cities?” I whispered in disbelief.
“You told us to prepare for it,” Rax said quietly. “You told me to tell the others the second strike would be the sign that it was time to rescue you.”
The idea that I’d cold-bloodedly accepted mass deaths… I could never have come up with such a plan on my own. The CCC must have weighed options and convinced me it was the only way. How could anyone predict so accurately, though? I knew the answer, Polarion brilliance, which in this instance included the Celestial Cybernetic Circuit.
Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Page 22
